Übungen für Gesang und Violoncello zu Dantes Göttlicher Komödie

On Monday, November 17 at 7:00 pm, the Italian Cultural Institute Cologne will present the performance "Esercizi per voce e violoncello sulla Divina Commedia di Dante" ("Exercises for voice and violoncello on Dante's Divine Comedy") with Chiara Guidi (voice) and Francesco Guerri (violoncello) in its theater hall.
In their exercises, Chiara Guidi and Francesco Guerri use the voice as a means of dramaturgy to decipher the meaning of Dante's verses.

Dante's words sound even before they are understood.
They speak for themselves and do not need the sound of the voice, much less a cello. Any sound that accompanies them is inferior to Dante's verses, for which no scores can be written.
And yet there is an empty space between the sound of the voice and Dante the narrator. We use this space to put the cello and the human voice to the test with an exercise. To transform both.
In this way, we move through the songs one after the other in order to better understand the text step by step.
The whole thing takes time.

The cellist and composer Francesco Guerri studied at the Maderna Conservatory in Cesena and then devoted himself to improvisation in the field of electroacoustics and rock. For years he has had an original solo repertoire with which he has performed at various Italian festivals. He has also performed with well-known jazz musicians such as Tristan Honsinger, Carla Bozulich, Butch Morris, William Parker and many others. In 2019, he presented his solo album Su Mimmi non si spara! on Radio3 Suite. In the theater, he has worked with Teatrino Clandestino, Teatrino Giullare, Francesca Grilli and Chiara Guidi in Edipo. Una fiaba di magia and Esercizi per voce e violoncello sulla Divina Commedia di Dante. These experiences have also inspired some of the pieces on his album.

Chiara Guidi is a co-founder of the historical theater group Societas Raffaello Sanzio (Societas). She has developed her very own preoccupation with the voice: This serves as a dramaturgical key to unfolding the sound and meaning of a text, with which she has achieved a unique selling point. She is also concerned with childhood. She has developed a radical concept of children's theater that has become established worldwide. Chiara Guidi has published books about her artistic career and the relationship between theater and school. She has been awarded two Ubu Prizes, the Garrone Prize, the Lo straniero Prize, the Eolo Award Riconoscenza and the Premio Ivo Chiesa_La Scuola. She has six children of her own and six grandchildren.

in original language